Big Island Snorkel questions
 

We're going to be on the Big Island in Sept. I would love to do the snorkel trip to Capt. Cook's monument, but am prone to seasickness. If anyone has done the Fairwinds or Sea Quest trips there, please let me know if the water was calm or did people get seasick. I know morning time is better since it's calmer then, but was just wondering if it's that rough to be concerned about. Thanks!!

I'm a physician also prone to seasicknees on snorkel and dive boats. I have found the answer for me - it is a prescription tablet called Scopace - saved my diving. It is the same drug as in the Transderm Scop patch but it is much more useful for these kinds of short day trips - the patch lasts 3 days so you waste most of it if you are just out on a day trip but the Scopace tablet lasts 6-8 hours which is ideal. It is quite a bit less expensive than the patch too. It does require a prescription - I take 1 tablet (0.4mg) about an hour before getting on the boat then you can take 1 more if it is particularly rough. The main side effect is some dry mouth but take a water bottle along and you'll be fine. Much more effective than over the counter meds. You can read more about it at www.motionsickness.net

We have done the Fair Wind trip once and the Sea Quest Raft Adventure twice. I am prone to seasickness and did not have any problems and did not see anyone else get seasick. Someone suggested taking ((F))ginger tablets for the Fair Wind trip, but since the ride was so smooth can't comment on effectiveness.

On the otherhand, a number of folks were :&seasick with the very wavy conditions on our NaPali coast tour/whalewatch on Kaua`i, and we took dramamine which saved us.:S-

Took the Sea Quest trip just last month and we had no trouble, although our captain did remark it was pretty calm that day. We had a great time--have fun!

Don't forget... you can always kayak to Captain Cook's monument yourself as well... but I assume you can get just as sick on a kayak as you can on another type of boat. Anyway, I am prone to seasickness and had no problem kayaking.

Personally I would choose Sea Quest over the 2 you're looking at since I've read they go into caves along the coast!

We have done Sea Quest and we have rented kayaks and gone to the Capt. Cook's monument ourselves. We very much enjoyed Sea Quest but loved kayaking over. I would kayak again. It's a short trip from where you put in.

We did the Fairwinds trip an number of times, I get seasick as well and I was surprised that I did not get sick at all, it was a smooth trip, short trip and easy trip. The Bay is very calm so the boat did not do any rocking when in the bay. Sept is unsually calmer then the winter months.
We have also driven right to the bay and snorkeled out from there. That was nice but I was glad I had done the Fairwinds because I loved seeing the island from the ocean.

We did the Fairwinds.
Very smooth, not rough at all.
We were very impressed with Fairwinds - very safety conscious and great service.